DO adjust throttle linkage

[roundout]

I was about at my wit's end with my 84 300D having lousy pedal response and feeling gutless at best (especially with A/C on), so I did an afternoon's worth of research and decided to try adjusting the throttle linkage before messing with my ALDA. About 3 months ago I already did filters, valves, replace some vac fittings, disable EGR, all the normal stuff.

I did download the 5 page .jpg taken from the service manual but could barely read it. What I ended up doing was having my wife push the go pedal to the floor while I verified that the linkage was indeed not moving far enough to hit the limiter on the IP. I had her keep her foot on the floor while I loosened the 10mm set screw (which was all the way at one end of its limit, which I estimate gave me about 70% or so fuel) which holds the throttle linkage to the connecting rod nearest the firewall. When it was loose, I adjusted the linkage side to where it hit the limiter and tightened the screw back down. Now everything works perfect. No adjustment to ALDA needed.

One item of note is that I had my Bowden cable adjusted to EXACTLY where I wanted it for good shift points. Now that I have changed the geometry of the throttle linkage, I have to once again start adjusting the Bowden 1/8 turn at a time to get it right where I want it.

Time = 2 minutes + Bowden cable adjustment
Tool = 1 x 10mm socket or wrench
People = 2. One under hood and one on diesel pedal. You could make it work with 1 person if you could rig a way to keep the pedal on the floor while you were under the hood, but she was home and made things much easier.